Thematic Interdisciplinary   Unit

The Principled Practices of Learning that will be emphasized in our Exploring Evolution Unit are:

Connecting students' learning to their funds of knowledge, along with their usage of everyday literacies with academic literacy and learning.

We will utilize assessment tools to promote learning and understanding of our students' cultural, social, and family background, creating a learning climate that fosters academic and social growth. We will use these assessment tools: 360 Evaluation, Pre-Mid-Post Survey Evaluations, Formative and Summative Assessments, and One-to-One

Our principled learning climate will be sustained through an engaging and strategic effort to incorporate reading, writing, viewing, listening, speaking and alternative resources to enhance learning and thinking strategies throughout our content lesson unit- Literture Circle, Portfollio presentations, Reciprocal Questioning, and Think-Pair-Share

This sustained effort will create a learning platform enhancing students' abilities to think and express their critical perspectives openly with their peers and teaching: ex: on-line blogs-discussion boards, Reciprocal Questioning, writing exercises SPAWN, RAFT, Literature Circles, Round-Robin Discussion, and Video Response Journals

This Principled learning environment will foster a learning and social environment enhancing students' development in engaging in constructive peer review, peer tutoring-learning groups.

Our principled learning culture encourages us as teachers to model the various learning strategies consistently to enhance students' abilities to comprehend and practice these learning strategies throughout their lifelong learning journey.

Finally, our principled learning environment should enhance students' to embrace failing smartly-forward, or be willing to explore and embrace learning from their mistakes, missteps, wrong answers, or failed hypothesis, etc.